Descriptive Summary

Collection Overview

Biography / History

Richard Gilbert Potter was a salesman and sometime photographer who collected local history photographs from the period 1880 to 1930. Potter then copied and he peddled the images for use as decoration in many Louisville businesses, hotels, and restaurants. In addition to thousands of photographs made or collected by Potter, the collection also contains large-format black and white negatives made by the Walter Fischer Studio (active from 1927 to 1945) which Potter purchased in 1945 and operated until 1950. The photographs document Louisville street scenes, historic buildings, Louisville mayors, the Potter family, Louisville celebrities, sporting events, including horse racing at Churchill Downs, and local professional and amateur baseball. In addition over two hundred 7x20 negatives in the unusual banquet camera format are included in the collection.

Scope and Content

This body of illustrations of Louisville and Kentucky sites and scenes was the gift of Col. R. G. Potter, a local photographer, photographic collector and publicist. It consists of more than 1300 color and black-and-white postcards and a handful of photographic negatives and colored slides. Most of the postcards document Louisville, while a smaller number illustrate other Kentucky cities and rural sites.

The dated cards were mailed from 1904 through 1952; many are undated. The collection occupies.5 linear feet. There are no restrictions on access to the collection.

The collection was donated in 1986 and processed by Myle Tran under the supervision of Sherrill Redmon.